St. Croix Renaissance Group Announces Acquisition of Former St. Croix Alumina
Site

Press Release: June 19, 2002

The St. Croix Renaissance Group is pleased to announce the purchase of the
former St. Croix Alumina site from Alcoa World Aluminum and Chemical Corporation.
Myron Allick, Patrick Mahoney and Jack Thomas, the principal partners in the
group, finalized the acquisition of the property at a closing in Miami Florida
on Friday, June 14, 2002. David Mugar, who has long been a part-time resident
of St. John, where he owns Starfish Market and the St. John Marketplace, and
who is the cofounder and chairman of partner company Brownfields Recovery Corporation,
was a driving force behind the acquisition and the sustainable development planning
for the site.

According to Myron Allick, a native Crucian and partner in the Renaissance
Group, "The 30-year history of alumina production at the site has ended
with this purchase and a new "eco-industrial" future has begun. St.
Croix Renaissance Group plans to redevelop the site and attract industrial and
recreational businesses, eventually creating hundreds of jobs for local residents,
while enhancing and protecting the property's many natural and historic resources."

St. Croix lost more than 400 jobs with the closure of the Alumina refinery,
but St. Croix Renaissance Group has already begun building their core staff.
On Monday, a meeting was held with the 13 remaining Alcoa employees and plans
were presented to shift them to the Renaissance operation. According to Laverne
Hodge, who worked with three of the previous owners of the site - Martin Marietta,
Vialco, and most recently, Alcoa, "I am excited about the plans that the
Renaissance Group has for this site. St. Croix needs new businesses and new
jobs, and this project could give a real boost to the economy of the Virgin
Islands. I am looking forward to working on what seems to be a very exciting
project."

The Renaissance Group will work with through the Department of Labor to publicize
any job openings and has begun a dialogue with local groups that will assist
in training as jobs become available. They will be targeting former alumina
employees, local skilled laborers and native professionals that are currently
working off-island due to the lack of challenging careers at home.

Jack Thomas, President of Brownfields and partner in the Renaissance Group,
described the acquisition as an outstanding opportunity that required "committed
and motivated investors, as well as partners that have a proven track record
in managing environmental contamination, recovering resources from waste, adapting
structures to new uses, redeveloping land, attracting industries; and training
a work force." He recognized that the future success of this project will
require "community support and involvement; new relationships with local
and international companies; and collaboration with government, schools and
universities, and our neighbors at Hovensa and Port Authority."

St. Croix Renaissance is committed to developing the 1244 acre industrial site
on the south coast of the island in a manner which will bring economic and environmental
benefits to the residents of the Virgin Islands. The Group has identified numerous
assets of the site which they feel will attract new businesses including its
ability to provide industrial tenants with:

Access to the property's natural attributes including its lagoons, beaches,
and open space.

The site is zoned I-1 Heavy Industry which allows for the widest range of industrial
activity and several businesses have already expressed an interest in locating
their operation at the site. St. Croix Renaissance Group is also exploring the
potential relocation of existing island businesses in non-industrial areas to
this more appropriate site.

Presently, the Group is working to maximize the water-making capabilities of
the site and to begin the process of reactivating the coal fired power plant
on site. The site has desalinization facilities with a daily generation capacity
of two million gallons. The site's existing coal-fired powerhouse is capable
of generating 40 MW of electricity. The exhaust gases from the coal plant are
controlled by a baghouse that was completely renovated in mid 2000 to meet all
current air emissions standards. In addition, the site has two oil-fired steam
boilers and several diesel generators.

According to Patrick Mahoney, President of Energy Answers Corporation and Partner
in the Renaissance Group, "Our ultimate goal is to attract business that
together will comprise what is often referred to as an 'eco-industrial park'.
Eco-industrial parks follow the principles of industrial ecology, a discipline
based on the idea that industrial systems should be designed to work in concert
with natural systems not in isolation from them. In practice, this works in
two key ways.

First, businesses in an eco-industrial park make a firm commitment to minimize
the impacts of their operations on the natural environment, by implementing
practices to reduce or eliminate air emissions, wastewater discharge and solid
waste.

Second, businesses in an eco-industrial park seek to "mimic" nature
by utilizing wastes and outputs from neighboring businesses as feedstock for
their own operations (similar to a tree using animal waste as a nutrient for
growth). Examples, include a brick manufacturer that uses residual red clay
from alumina operations as a raw material for its bricks and a paper mill
or foundry that uses energy from a thermal conversion facility to process
scrap paper or metals into usable forms."

The Group envisions that an eco-industrial park would comprise the roughly
300 "industrial" acres in the center of this 1244-acre site. The long-term
sustainable development plan for the site, developed in consultation with local
environmentalists and experts in sustainable development defines the opportunities
which exist. They include:

Facilities and operations for the management of the island's solid waste;

A brick manufacturing facility that would use the red mud from the former
alumina operations to make high quality bricks and floor tiles;

The development of a sustainable aquaculture and seafood processing facility
that would use the facility's large storage tanks to grow shrimp and fish;

Boat building operations which would benefit from the proximity to the deep
water port;

Manufacturers which could utilize the site's well equipped, industrial machine
shop;

Bulk materials handing operations which could utilize the existing storage
tanks; and

Refrigerated storage and food processing facilities.

In April, the St. Croix Renaissance Group responded to the Government's Request
for Proposals to provide interim solid waste management services on St. Croix.
The proposed plan involves baling, wrapping and storing St. Croix's municipal
solid waste for eventual use as a fuel at a future on-island thermal conversion
facility or for some other final disposal solution. It also includes the recycling
and reuse of metals, glass, and other materials; composting, management of hurricane
waste and programs for management of junk cars, household hazardous waste, and
other difficult materials in the waste steam. The Renaissance site is the only
location in St. Croix which is properly zoned and appropriate for these activities.

The proposal outlined plans to use portions of the Renaissance site, including
existing buildings and equipment, for these interim waste management operations.
The former hydrated alumina building is an ideal structure, already equipped
with power and supported by the industrial infrastructure, that would be used
to receive the waste from the waste haulers, inspect and remove some materials
for recycling, bale the waste and wrap it in plastic. The baled and wrapped
waste would then be stored in the former bauxite storage building until a long-term
solution is in place. The reuse of these existing buildings, roadways, and infrastructure
for the Island's waste management operations would not only result in cost effective
solution but could help the government meet the December 31, 2002-deadline for
closure of the landfill.

With the eco-industrial park focused on the 300 acres, St. Croix Renaissance
is evaluating a cruise-ship port with fuel, water and other provisioning services
and recreation for passengers and a commercial docking facility and marina.
Increased tourist activity in the area could support recreational uses that
would be available to residents as well. These may include improved beach access,
restored historic ruins, golf, nature trails, and a lake for kayaking and fly-fishing.
In implementing these recreational amenities, the Group is committed to restoring
and preserving the property's natural and historic resources.

Regarding the recreation area and pavilion at the entrance to the Renaissance
site that had become a popular area for soccer teams, joggers, and community
groups, Myron Allick said, "We plan to open the recreation area up to the
public once we have developed fair scheduling procedures, secured the necessary
liability coverage, and performed some badly needed maintenance."

St. Croix Renaissance Group is committed to developing the former alumina site
to its fullest potential. The project has saved a dozen jobs this week and will
provide more in the near future with the potential to create hundreds of new
jobs and to provide a new stimulus for the local economy. It will attract environmentally
and economically sustainable industries to the Island and create numerous business
opportunities for existing local companies as well as emerging local entrepreneurs.
Importantly, it will also help to protect St. Croix's precious natural environment.

The St. Croix Renaissance Group is a partnership of entrepreneurs and companies
with strong experience in redeveloping industrial property and firm commitments
to establishing a new economic foundation for the island. St. Croix Renaissance
Group is comprised of:

Brownfields Recovery Corporation, headed by David Mugar and Jack Thomas,
is a real estate investment and development firm focused on environmentally
impacted, industrial properties. Brownfields Recovery Chairman and cofounder
David Mugar has long been a part-time resident of St. John, where he owns
Starfish Market and the St. John Marketplace. (www.brownfields-recovery.com)

Energy Answers, headed by Patrick Mahoney, is firmly committed to sustainable
development, recycling and resource recovery, including the beneficial reuse
of existing industrial land and infrastructure for its projects. The company
has a long and successful track record of developing and implementing integrated
waste management solutions with a goal of zero disposal. (www.energyanswers.com)

Myron Allick is a native of St. Croix and a successful businessman in the
Territory. He served as General Manager of Starfish Market on St. John for
more than seven years and will play a critical role in implementing the plans
proposed by St. Croix Renaissance Group for the revitalization of this property.